Burkina Faso’s army is still in still reeling from a jihadist insurgency in the northcentral region.
The onslaught from jihadists continues unabated.
A few days after the attack on a supply convoy under military escort in the Sahel region, a joint patrol between security forces and auxiliaries called Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) was attacked on Saturday, October 15, in the town of Silmague (also called Silmadje), in the district of Bouroum (Centre-North), 187 kilometers northeast of Ouagadougou.
According to security sources, the provisional death toll has been put at 12, including eight soldiers and four VDPs.
The army is yet to comment on the latest incident.
The day before the attack blamed on jihadists, Captain Ibrahim Traore, the leader of the coup which swept aside Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who overthrew Roch Marc Christian Kabore eight months earlier, was appointed president of a 21-month transition, at the end of the first day of the national conference slated to last two days.
The 34-year-old officer took power to correct, what he sees as, “the risky choices” of the former president of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR) in the fight against jihadist groups.
On September 26, a supply convoy was attacked near Gaskinde in the Sahel region.
The official death toll was 37, including 27 soldiers and 10 civilians.
On Tuesday, October 4, the Groupe de soutien à l’Islam et aux musulmans (GSIM) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had killed at least 65 soldiers.
The insurgents also claimed to have set fire to 90 vehicles out of 119 in the humanitarian convoy bound for the town of Djibo, which has been under jihadist blockade for several months.
On Saturday, October 8, the jihadist group affiliated with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released a 10-minute video of the deadly ambush.
For nearly a decade, Burkina Faso has faced a jihadist insurgency that has killed thousands and displaced more than a million people within the country.
AC/fss/as/APA